The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has included mental health issues in the list of conditions that make a person more susceptible to catching COVID19 infection and becoming severely ill. The decision of the federal agency has made millions of people living in the United States eligible for COVID19 booster shots. The officials have said that with the new decision, people who are dealing with schizophrenia, depression, and other mental issues have become eligible for receiving COVID booster shots. People who are above 65 years of age and are dealing with weaker immune systems are already eligible for booster shots in the United States. Experts have said that elderly people living with compromised immune systems are at a greater risk of contracting severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. As per the data obtained by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly one out of five people living in the US deals with some type of mental health condition each year. A study that has been released in the Lancet Psychiatry in 2020 has shown that people who have a history of Psychiatric issues are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with COVID19. The study has analyzed data of 69 million people. Health experts have said that the decision has been taken by federal officials as the US continues to witness around 1400 deaths on average per day. They have said that most of these deaths are taking place among people who are not vaccinated against COVID19. Despite a significant amount of deaths in the country due to the virus, the rate of vaccination remains static at 57.6 percent of the overall population in the US. Health experts have said that the rate of vaccination in the United States is still below 70 percent. They have advised that the officials need to completely avert the spread of the virus.
Health experts from the CDC have found that more people have been getting booster shots as compared to primary shots in the US. Nearly 15.4 million people have taken COVID19 booster shots in the country so far. Although COVID19 cases and hospital admissions are reducing in the US, COVID19 hot spots remain as it is and new hot spots are surfacing as the winter season forces people back indoors. At present, experts are reporting fewer than half of the number of COVID19 new cases on daily basis as compared to what they have been reporting in the early weeks of September when the delta variant has been quite dominant. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been closely monitoring a subvariant of the delta strain known as AY.4.2. Experts from the WHO is trying to find out whether this subvariant is more contagious than the delta variant or it is more defiant to human antibodies that are essential to fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While the US government is trying to shoot up the rate of immunization in the country, the state of Florida has filed a suit against the federal government due to its COVID19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. It has started another political clash between Governor Ron DeSantis and the White House. In the lawsuit, Governor Ron DeSantis has said that president Joe Biden does not have the power to issue such a mandate as it qualifies for violation of procurement law. He has threatened the US government with legal action over its vaccination requirements and has been fighting against masking and vaccine-related rules that have been executed by local authorities in Florida. He has said that he is going to invite state legislators to the Capitol in November to pass a law to fight against COVID19 vaccine mandates that have been implemented by private businesses. As per the data, around 59495 people have lost their lives due to the virus in Florida. The state has reported about 1.65 million COVID19 cases so far.
Apart from the vaccine mandate for federal contractors, the Biden government has also declared that any private employer with 100 or more workers needs to vaccinate their staff against COVID19 or test them for COVID19 per week. Around 17 million health care workers who have been covered by federal Medicare or Medicaid as well need to be immunized. Beijing has asked its people to push back their wedding plans and cut down the duration of funerals to reduce the risk of a COVID19 outbreak ahead of the forthcoming Winter Olympic Games. According to a report, nearly six million people living in three cities have been instructed to stay indoors to stop the spread of the virus. While with 1163 COVID19 deaths, Russia has witnessed a record high number of deaths in just one day. The country has imposed a partial lockdown for a week. A WHO ambassador for global health, Dr. Gordon Brown has advised the UK government and other G-20 nations to plan a military airlift of extra COVID19 vaccine doses to low-income countries before they are expired. He has said that it is a moral responsibility of affluent nations across the world. The data from John Hopkins University has shown that more than 245.7 million people have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the world. Nearly 4.98 people have lost their lives to COVID19 disease worldwide. The US has witnessed the highest number of cases with 45.8 million COVID19 infections. As per the data, around 743369 people have died due to the disease in the United States. India falls at the second spot with 34.2 million cases of COVID19. There have been 457191 deaths due to the disease in India, said the experts. Brazil has seen the second-highest death toll due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The country has reported around 21.8 million COVID19 cases so far. Health experts have confirmed that in Europe, Russia has seen the most mortality with 231931 deaths while the UK has reported 140628 COVID19 deaths so far. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been detected in Wuhan city of China for the first time. As per the official figure, China has reported 109436 cases of COVID19 and 4808 deaths due to the disease.
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